Skeletal Spectacle

3 weeks ago, I found a dead squirrel under my rear deck. We have California Ground Squirrels around our property, but this one was a typical Douglas Squirrel. I do prefer the look of the California Ground Squirrel to the Douglas Squirrel, their coat is more intricate, they move low to the ground with beautiful ease and they are graceful creatures. Yet, I had to find the body of a... ahem... Douglas Squirrel.

I guess it really didn't matter, for my initial thought upon seeing the silhouette of a dead animal under my rear deck was: Taxidermy. Do you know what the price of a squirrel skeleton positioned in some hilarious pose is? Astronomical! So, the thought, nay, dream of doing taxidermy myself came to fruition. I fashioned a hardware cloth 'box', stuck the dead squirrel in it, anchored it to a tree, covered it with leaves and let nature do her work.

Well, it's been 3 weeks and my specimen it not ready just yet, though I've witnessed all stages of decomposition. I pulled it out today and as I inspected the skeletal remains, I could see in my peripheral vision a California Ground Squirrel giving me the evil eye. He just sat there with this sort of judgmental look as if saying, "You know what? I'll be the first to admit that he and I weren't friends. But what you're doing man... isn't cool."

I feel bad for trying to harvest the bones of another living thing, but I really want a diorama with a squirrel skeleton positioned in some kind of hilarious pose.